500 trees must go to widen Taguig road

“ROAD KILL” Only 62 of the hundreds of trees along Lawton Avenue are expected to be earth-balled and transplanted.—LYN RILLON

Its green cover shrinking each year, Metro Manila will again be losing trees en masse for the sake of urban convenience.

Around 500 sidewalk trees are being removed to give way to a
road-widening project in Taguig City’s commercial district, with the
approval of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources
(DENR).

A permit approved on June 6 by DENR-National Capital Region Director
Jacqueline Cancan allowed the Bases Conversion and Development Authority
(BCDA) to cut 425 trees and earth-ball 62 more along Bayani Road and
Sales Interchange in Fort Bonifacio.

The BCDA was in turn ordered to plant 21,250 seedlings of hardened indigenous trees as replacement.

The order did not specify where the new trees are to be planted, but
it also required the agency to maintain and protect the transplanted
trees for at least one year.

Replacement seedlings

BCDA shall also replace each transplanted tree that will not survive
after six months with 100 seedlings of indigenous tree species, in
compliance with DENR Memorandum Order No. 2012-02.
DENR-NCR’s Conservation and Development Division confirmed on Wednesday
that the replacement seedlings were ready as early as three weeks ago.

The trees are being removed to give way to Phase 2 of the widening of
Lawton Avenue (which connects Fort Bonifacio and Villamor Air Base),
project under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

A Tarlac-based construction company, Northern Builders, got the
P407-million contract to do the electrical and road works component of
the project, including the removal of trees.

According to DPWH, the widening project is expected to be completed
next year and will reduce by 40 percent the travel time between
Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

It is also expected to decongest major arteries such as Edsa, Osmeña Boulevard and C-5 Road.

It also complements the BGC-Ortigas Center Link Road project which
will improve access to and from the cities of Taguig, Pasig, Makati and
Mandaluyong.

Concerned citizen

But such promises of smoother travel could not appease a concerned
citizen who recently posted photos of the freshly cut or pruned trees
online.

“Some of these big, precious trees are already decades old. Instead
of cutting them down, we should dig them up and move them, because that
is the right way to do it,” he said, noting that the species being cut
included hardwoods such as such as narra, molave, mahogany and gmelina.

Some of the mahogany trees set to be cut down are already as tall as
15 meters and with trunks that are about 50 centimeters in diameter. It
takes about 25 years for a mahogany tree to reach that mature height.

Based on the DENR permit, only 62 trees—the youngest and smallest of the lot—will be transplanted.

“Trees need not to be cut down to give way to development,” said the
concerned citizen, a regular commuter on Lawton Avenue. “The wrong
things we are doing to Mother Nature will come back to us in the form of
floods, pollution and stronger typhoons. When will we Filipinos
learn?”—With a report from ROSELIE MARI VILLAFLOR

BACOLOD CITY — The cutting of trees on Abuanan Road in Bago
City has been stopped and charges will be filed against those
responsible for pruning them even before getting a permit from the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a community
environment and natural resources officer said on Tuesday.

Joan Nathaniel Gerangaya said he had ordered the recovery of tree
parts and was completing documentation so an administrative hearing
could be held before the filing of charges in court.

No permit

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Cutting of trees without permit violates the forestry code, he said.

A Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) contractor
reportedly pruned the trees in preparation for their removal to allow
the widening of Abuanan Road to four lanes to connect it with the
Bacolod economic highway.

An application for clearance to cut 271 trees on Abuanan Road had
been filed but the DENR regional office had yet to approve it, said
Freddie Bata-anon, head of the licensing, patents and bids section of
the city environment and natural resources office (Cenro) in Bago.

The Cenro on Saturday ordered the DPWH to stop pruning and cutting the trees.

Friendship symbol

When permission to cut is granted, Cenro representatives need to be
present to ensure it is properly done and an inventory can be made,
Gerangaya said. The cut trees are then donated to the Department of
Education for use in schools, he said.

Of the 271 trees to be cut, more than 100 acacia trees were planted
31 years ago by volunteers of the Organization for Industrial, Spiritual
and Cultural Advancement as a symbol of friendship between the Japanese
and Filipinos.

An online signature campaign was launched to ask the DENR not to
allow the DPWH to cut the 271 trees. On Tuesday, 3,021 had signed the
petition. —Carla Gomez